Stormfire: (Four Kingdoms: Origins Book 1) by Jasmine Young

Author:Jasmine Young [Young, Jasmine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jasmine Young
Published: 2019-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Pimples had sprouted on his face overnight.

Everywhere—two on his chin, one on the right corner of his lip, one below that, three more along his forehead like a swollen constellation.

Jaime rubbed them in the dark of the Pantheon of Air. He hadn’t noticed them until now, after the Battle of Arcurea had quieted, and the bodies, both Arcurean and royal, were cleared from the streets.

They hurt.

He gazed up at the empty altar high above him. Squeezing his medallion, he sank onto his knees.

“Lord Jaypes,” he whispered.

His voice echoed.

Lord Jaypes . . .

Jaypes . . .

Though no stonemist incense was lit, a mysterious whiff of it tickled his nose. He closed his eyes, breathed it in.

“I—I’m sorry.”

Wet beads gathered in the corner of his eyes, but he kept his lids shut, resisting them.

I understand now, Lordship. The Arcureans were never fighting for me. They are fighting for you. They saw you in me all along. Even though I couldn’t—I didn’t want to.

The dead Jaypans on the streets flashed through his mind. Blank gazes. Breathless bodies. Friend and foe—all his people.

Jaime let out a breath.

In the isolated darkness, tears spilled over the new bumps on his skin.

“If I’m going to take more lives . . . ” He bowed his head the way he saw his mother do so many times on Mount Alairus. “Help me be strong, Lord Jaypes. Help me end this war.”

Jaime opened his eyes, fixing them on the altar.

Help me do this for Mamá.

At dawn, he left his prayers, and his tears, in the pantheon. A myrrh-like aroma lingered on his skin. The medallion hung openly from his chest. No longer would he hide it away under his chiton.

Gold streaks of dawn lightened the sky.

By the time Jaime arrived home, he collapsed into bed without changing out of his sandals or stained clothes. For the first time in months, he slept dreamlessly till late afternoon.

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